Events

• 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople.

• 1349 – The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.

• 1431 – Judges' investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government.

• 1760 – Afghans defeat Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.

• 1768 – Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London.

• 1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States.

• 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.

• 1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt introduces income tax to raise funds for the war against Napoleon.

• 1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral.

• 1816 – Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.

• 1822 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese king João VI, starting the Brazilian independence process.

• 1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.

• 1857 – The Fort Tejon earthquake of California occurs, registering an estimated magnitude of 7.9.

• 1858 – Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.

• 1861 – American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War".

• 1861 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.

• 1863 – American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman occurs in Arkansas.

• 1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.

• 1880 – The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.

• 1894 – New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.

• 1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.

• 1905 – According to the Julian Calendar which is used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.

• 1914 – Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded.

• 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.

• 1917 – World War I: the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine.

• 1918- Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.

• 1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.

• 1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.

• 1941 – World War II: The Greek Triton (S.112) sinks the Italian submarine Neghelli in Otranto.

• 1945 – World War II: The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.

• 1947 – Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the Black Dahlia, is last seen alive.

• 1951 – The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.

• 1964 – Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.

• 1968 – Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group in Naivasha, Kenya.

• 2005 – Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh.

• 2007 – Mile Post 398, the first featured film that an all-Navajo team wrote, produced, directed, filmed and starred in was released.

Births

• 1475 – Crinitus, Florentine humanist (d. 1507)

• 1554 – Pope Gregory XV (d. 1623)

• 1571 – Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, soldier in Habsburg service (d. 1621)

• 1589 – Ivan Gundulic, Croatian poet (d. 1638)

• 1624 – Empress Meishō (d. 1696)

• 1685 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist (d. 1766)

• 1728 – Thomas Warton, English poet (d. 1790)

• 1745 – Caleb Strong, 6th and 10th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)

• 1773 – Cassandra Austen, English watercolorist and sister of Jane Austen (d. 1845)

• 1790 – Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet (d. 1855)

• 1811 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (d. 1856)

• 1819 – James Francis, Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)

• 1823 – Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (d. 1908)

• 1829 – Thomas William Robertson, English playwright (d. 1871)

• 1829 – Adolf von Schlagintweit, German explorer (d. 1857)

• 1832 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, journalist, author and politician, Premier of Quebec (d. 1900)

• 1839 – John Knowles Paine, U.S. composer (d. 1906)

• 1848 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)

• 1849 – John Hartley, English tennis player, double winner of Wimbledon (d. 1935)

• 1854 – Jennie Jerome, American society beauty and mother of Winston Churchill (d. 1921)

• 1856 – Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet (d. 1912)

• 1859 – Carrie Chapman Catt, American suffragist leader (d. 1947)

• 1864 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician (d. 1926)

• 1868 – S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (d. 1939)

• 1870 – Joseph B Strauss, American civil engineer (d. 1938)

• 1873 – Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Hebrew poet (d. 1934)

• 1875 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American socialite (d. 1942)

• 1879 – John Broadus Watson, American psychologist (d. 1958)

• 1881 – Lascelles Abercrombie, British poet and critic (d. 1938)

• 1881 – Edouard Beaupré, horse lifter (d. 1904)

• 1881 – Giovanni Papini, Italian writer (d. 1956)

• 1886 – Lloyd Loar, Acoustical engineer and inventor of the Gibson F-5 mandolin (d. 1943)

• 1890 – Karel Čapek, Czech writer (d. 1938)

• 1890 – Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist (d. 1935)

• 1892 – Eva Bowring, American politician (d. 1985)

• 1896 – Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-born British conductor (d. 1971)

• 1897 – Karl Löwith, German philosopher (d. 1973)

• 1898 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)

• 1898 – Gracie Fields, English music hall performer (d. 1979)

• 1898 – Wally Baker, American supercentenarian (d. 2009)

• 1900 – Richard Halliburton, American adventurer (presumed dead 1939)

• 1900 – Maria of Romania, Queen Consort of Yugoslavia (d. 1961)

• 1901 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)

• 1902 – Rudolph Bing, Austrian-born opera manager (d. 1997)

• 1902 – Saint Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish Catholic priest and founder of Opus Dei (d. 1975)

• 1903 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator (d. 1969)

• 1908 – Simone de Beauvoir, French author (d. 1986)

• 1909 – Herva Nelli, Italian-born soprano (d. 1994)

• 1909 – Anthony Mamo, Malta's 1st President (d. 2008)

• 1909 – Patrick Peyton, Irish Roman Catholic prelate (d. 1992)

• 1912 – Ralph Tubbs, British architect (d. 1996)

• 1913 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)

• 1914 – Gypsy Rose Lee (or 1911), American burlesque entertainer (d. 1970)

• 1914 – Kenny (Klook) Clarke, American jazz drummer and composer (d. 1985)

• 1915 – Anita Louise, U.S. actress (d. 1970)

• 1915 – Fernando Lamas, Argentine actor (d. 1982)

• 1916 – Vic Mizzy, American orchestra leader (d. 2009)

• 1916 – Peter Twinn, English World War II code-breaker (d. 2004)

• 1920 – Chan Canasta, Polish-British magician (d. 1999)

• 1920 – Clive Dunn, British actor

• 1920 – Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar (d. 1998)

• 1921 – Lister Sinclair, Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)

• 1922 – Har Gobind Khorana, Nobel laureate

• 1922 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (d. 1984)

• 1924 – Sergei Parajanov, Armenian film director (d. 1990)

• 1925 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (d. 1989)

• 1926 – Giannis Christou, Greek composer (d. 1970)

• 1926 – Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian politician, Lieutenant governor of Quebec (d. 2002)

• 1928 – Judith Krantz, American author

• 1928 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (d. 1994)

• 1929 – Brian Friel, Irish dramatist

• 1929 – Heiner Muller, German dramatist (d. 1995)

• 1929 – Dorothea Puente, American serial killer

• 1931 – Algis Budrys, American author

• 1933 – Robert Garcia, American politician

• 1933 – Wilbur Smith, Zambian-British novelist

• 1934 – Bart Starr, American football player

• 1935 – Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)

• 1935 – Dick Enberg, American sportscaster

• 1935 – Earl G. Graves, Sr., African-American publisher

• 1935 – Brian Harradine, Australian independent Senator

• 1936 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American writer

• 1939 – Susannah York, British actress

• 1940 – Jimmy Boyd, American actor and singer

• 1940 – Barbara Buczek, Polish composer (d. 1993)

• 1940 – Al Downing, American singer (d. 2005)

• 1940 – Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss politician

• 1941 – Joan Baez, American singer and activist

• 1941 – Gilles Vaillancourt, Quebec politician

• 1942 – K Callan, American actress

• 1942 – Lee Kun-hee, Korean industrialist, chairman of Samsung

• 1942 – Judy Malloy, American hypertext fiction pioneer and artist

• 1943 – Robert Drewe, Australian author

• 1943 – Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian politician (d. 2007)

• 1943 – Freddie Starr, English comedian and singer

• 1943 – Scott Walker, American singer

• 1944 – Ian Hornak, American painter, draughtsman and sculptor (d. 2002)

• 1944 – Jimmy Page, British musician and producer (Led Zeppelin)

• 1945 – John Doman, American actor

• 1947 – Ronnie Landfield, American artist

• 1948 – Bill Cowsill, American singer (The Cowsills) (d. 2006)

• 1948 – Cassie Gaines, backup Singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)

• 1950 – David Johansen, American singer

• 1950 – Rio Reiser, German singer (d. 1996)

• 1951 – M.L. Carr, basketball player and coach

• 1951 – Crystal Gayle, American singer

• 1952 – Hugh Bayley, British politician

• 1953 – Morris Gleitzman, British-Australian children's author

• 1955 – Michiko Kakutani, American literary critic

• 1955 – J. K. Simmons, American actor

• 1956 – Kimberly Beck, American actress

• 1956 – Imelda Staunton, British actress

• 1956 – Mike Walczewski, American public address announcer at Madison Square Garden

• 1957 – Bibie, Ghanaian singer

• 1957 – Phil Lewis, American singer (L.A. Guns)

• 1958 – Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish attempted assassin of Pope John Paul II

• 1958 – Stephen Neale, British philosopher

• 1959 – Mark Martin, American race car driver

• 1959 – Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

• 1959 – Cristi Minculescu, Romanian musician

• 1959 – Otis Nixon, American baseball player

• 1961 – Oliver Goldstick, American screenwriter

• 1963 – Michael Everson, expert in writing systems and Unicode

• 1965 – Darren Bennett, Australian-born American football player

• 1965 – Muggsy Bogues, American basketball player

• 1965 – Iain Dowie, English football manager

• 1965 – Eric Erlandson, American musician

• 1965 – Haddaway, Trinidadian singer

• 1965 – Joely Richardson, British actress

• 1967 – Carl Bell, American musician

• 1967 – Claudio Caniggia, Argentinian footballer

• 1967 – Steve Harwell, American singer and musician (Smash Mouth)

• 1967 – Dave Matthews, South African singer and musician

• 1967 – Gary Teichmann, South African rugby player

• 1968 – Jimmy Adams, West Indian cricketer

• 1968 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress

• 1968 – Al Schnier, American rock guitarist (moe.)

• 1970 – Lara Fabian, Belgian singer

• 1970 – Alex Staropoli, Italian keyboardist (Rhapsody Of Fire)

• 1970 – Mia X, American rapper

• 1971 – Daniel Dumile, American hip hop artist

• 1971 – Angie Martinez, American rapper and radio talk host

• 1971 – Yusuke Naora, Japanese game art director

• 1971 – Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian author

• 1971 – Scott Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1972 – Sarah Beeny, British TV personality

• 1972 – Jay Powell, baseball player

• 1973 – Angela Bettis, American actress

• 1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican ragga and hip hop musician

• 1974 – Farhan Akhtar, Indian Bollywood director, actor, producer, singer.

• 1975 – Kiko Calero, Puerto Rican baseball player

• 1976 – Radek Bonk, Czech ice hockey player

• 1976 – Todd Grisham, American professional wrestling interviewer

• 1977 – Beth Troutman, American production assistant

• 1978 – Chad Ocho Cinco, American football player

• 1978 – Mathieu Garon, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1978 – Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer

• 1978 – AJ McLean, American singer (Backstreet Boys)

• 1978 – Maggie Rizer, American model and AIDS activist

• 1979 – Tomiko Van, Japanese singer

• 1980 – Sergio García, Spanish golfer

• 1981 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer

• 1982 – Timmy Bowers, American basketball player

• 1983 – Sharad Malhotra, Indian Television Actor

• 1987 – Sam Bird, English racing driver

• 1987 – Mao Inoue, Japanese actress

• 1987 – Lucas Pezzini Leiva, Brazilian footballer

• 1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer/songwriter

• 1987 – Pablo Santos, Mexican actor (d. 2006)

• 1989 – Michael Beasley, American basketball player

• 1989 – Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian actress

• 1989 – Michaella Krajicek, Dutch tennis player

• 1989 – Chris Sandow, Australian Rugby League player

• 1990 – Melissa Ricks, Filipina actress

Deaths

• 1150 – Emperor Xizong of Jin is murdered by Prince Hailing of Jin in a Coup d'état. (b. 1119)

• 1282 – Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd Hakam al Qurashi, ruler of Minorca (b. 1204)

• 1283 – Wen Tianxiang, Prime Minister of China (executed) (b. 1236)

• 1499 – Johann Cicero, elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)

• 1514 – Anna, Duchess of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France (b. 1477)

• 1543 – Guillaume du Bellay, French diplomat and general (b. 1491)

• 1562 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1514)

• 1571 – Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French naval officer (b. 1510)

• 1598 – Jasper Heywood, English translator (b. 1553)

• 1677 – Aernout van der Neer, Dutch painter (b. 1603)

• 1757 – Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (b. 1657)

• 1757 – Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician (b. 1688)

• 1766 – Thomas Birch, British historian (b. 1705)

• 1799 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian scientist (b. 1718)

• 1800 – Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)

• 1805 – Noble Wimberly Jones, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)

• 1843 – William Hedley, British industrial engineer (b. 1773)

• 1848 – Caroline Herschel, German-born astronomer (b. 1750)

• 1858 – Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (suicide) (b. 1798)

• 1873 – Emperor Napoleon III of France (b. 1808)

• 1876 – Samuel Gridley Howe, American abolitionist (b. 1801)

• 1877 – Alexander Brullov, Russia painter (b. 1799)

• 1878 – King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)

• 1895 – Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American watch manufacturer (b. 1812)

• 1901 – Richard Copley Christie, English scholar (b. 1830)

• 1908 – Wilhelm Busch, German painter (b. 1832)

• 1908 – Abraham Goldfaden, Russian-born actor (b. 1840)

• 1911 – Edwin Arthur Jones, American composer (b. 1853)

• 1911 – Edvard Rusjan, Slovene flight pioneer (b. 1886)

• 1918 – Émile Reynaud, French scientist (b. 1844)

• 1923 – Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand writer (b. 1888)

• 1927 – Houston Stewart Chamberlain, British pro-Aryan anti-semitic writer, son-in-law of Richard Wagner (b. 1855)

• 1931 – Wayne Munn, wrestler (b. 1896)

• 1936 – John Gilbert, American actor (b. 1899)

• 1939 – Johann Strauss III, Austrian conductor (b. 1866)

• 1945 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian Prime Minister (b. 1890)

• 1946 – Countee Cullen, American poet (b. 1903)

• 1946 – Dimitrios Golemis, Greek athlete (b. 1874)

• 1947 – Karl Mannheim, German sociologist (b. 1893)

• 1960 – Elsie J. Oxenham, British children's author (b. 1880)

• 1961 – Emily Greene Balch, American writer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1867)

• 1971 – Giannis Christou, Greek composer (b. 1926)

• 1971 – Elmer Flick, baseball player (b. 1876)

• 1972 – Ted Shawn, American dancer (b. 1891)

• 1975 – Pierre Fresnay, French actor (b. 1897)

• 1975 – Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)

• 1979 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect (b. 1891)

• 1981 – Kazimierz Serocki, Polish composer (b. 1922)

• 1984 – Wolfgang Staudte, German director (b. 1906)

• 1985 – Robert Mayer, British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1879)

• 1987 – Marion Hutton, American singer (b. 1919)

• 1987 – Arthur Lake, American actor (b. 1905)

• 1989 – Bill Terry, baseball player (b. 1898)

• 1990 – Sir Edward McTiernan, Australian jurist, lawyer and politician (b. 1892)

• 1990 – Spud Chandler, baseball player (b. 1907)

• 1992 – Steve Brodie, American actor (b. 1919)

• 1992 – Bill Naughton, British playwright (b. 1910)

• 1993 – Sir Paul Hasluck, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1905)

• 1994 – Johnny Temple, baseball player (b. 1927)

• 1995 – Peter Cook, British actor and comedian (b. 1937)

• 1995 – Souphanouvong, President of Laos (b. 1909)

• 1997 – Edward Osobka-Morawski, Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1909)

• 1997 – Jesse White, American actor (b. 1917)

• 1998 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (b. 1918)

• 1998 – Charito Solis, Filipino actress (b. 1935)

• 2000 – Ted Jones, Hydroplane builder/designer (b. 1908)

• 2000 – Nigel Tranter, Scottish historian and author (b. 1909)

• 2001 – Maurice Prather, American photographer (b. 1926)

• 2003 – Will McDonough, American sports journalist (b. 1935)

• 2004 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher (b. 1909)

• 2005 – Gonzalo Gavira, Mexican film sound technician (b. 1925)

• 2006 – Andy Caldecott, Australian motorcycle racer (b. 1964)

• 2006 – Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor, director (b. 1937)

• 2007 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (b. 1977)

• 2007 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French structuralist historian and anthropologist (b. 1914)

• 2008 – Johnny Grant, American radio personality, television producer (b. 1923)

• 2008 – Liam Quinn, Provisional IRA member (b. 1949)

• 2008 – Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist (b. 1977)

• 2008 – Sir John Harvey-Jones, chairman of ICI from 1982 to 1987 (b. 1924).

• 2009 – T. Llew Jones, Welsh author (b. 1915)

• 2009 – Rob Gauntlett, English adventurer, explorer and motivational speaker (b. 1987)

Holidays and observances

• Martyrs' Day (Panama) commemorates the 1964 riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone

• Black Nazarene feast in the Quiapo district, Manila, Philippines

• January 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Republic Day in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Adrian of Canterbury

• Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow

• Theophan the Recluse